Stephen Nachmanovitch performs and teaches internationally as an improvisational violinist, and at the intersections of music, dance, theater, and multimedia arts. He has presented master classes and workshops in improvisation at Juilliard, the Yehudi Menuhin School, many conservatories and universities. He graduated in 1971 from Harvard and in 1975 from the University of California, where he earned a Ph.D. in the History of Consciousness for an exploration of William Blake. His mentor was the anthropologist and philosopher Gregory Bateson. He has lectured and published in many fields since 1966, and is the author of Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art (Penguin, 1990) and The Art of IS: Improvising as a Way of Life (New World Library, 2019). He has created computer software including The World Music Menu and Visual Music Tone Painter. He performs on violin, viola, electric violin, and viola d'amore. Recent albums include Impermanence, Electric and Acoustic Improvisations, and Ludi Fecundus and Saraswati Steps Up To Bat. www.freeplay.com.